Federal judge in Pensacola says the health law is unconstitutional. So now what?

So now, we keep moving forward to fully implement all provisions of the health law, the Affordable Care Act, here in Georgia. We continue working toward establishing an insurance exchange for the state and streamlining enrollment processes for health coverage within Medicaid, PeachCare for Kids, and within the Exchange.

For those who want to keep score, with this most recent decision, our “court count” stands at:

2 courts who ruled to uphold the law;

12 courts who outright dismissed the constitutional challenges;

1 court who ruled the individual mandate provision unconstitutional; and

1 court who ruled the entire law unconstitutional.

Many believe that this case eventually will be heard by the Supreme Court, but there’s no clear idea of when that will happen. What we do know is that the Affordable Care Act remains the law of the land, and Georgia must fully comply with all requirements under the law.

Looking forward it’s difficult to predict how long the legal fight will continue. But looking back, we can witness how our state already has benefitted since the law was passed. Insurance companies can no longer drop coverage when children get sick. Insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children based on a pre-existing condition. And Georgia already has received $34.9 million of federal dollars newly available to states under the Affordable Care Act.

With these and other benefits children in Georgia already have received under the health law, we must consider whether we can afford to have them all stripped away?